Need for greater female empowerment stressed

LAHORE: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairperson Rahat Kaunain Hassan has stressed the need for greater female empowerment through creating enabling environment and said that equal opportunity should be provided to all individuals. She was speaking as a chief guest at one-day 3rd Women in Business and Leadership Conference here Thursday organised by Terrabiz and Pakistan Society of Training and Development (PSTD) on the theme ‘Women in business, architects of change’.

She said that overcoming the challenges and turning into an opportunity is again a human achievement, and is not exclusive either to women or men. Because human are remarkable and resilient specie, since the advent of humankind, we have excelled at finding or creating opportunity in the face of stark reality, she added.”Only if we could educate our girls and consider it as important and crucial as we deem it for boys we could avoid many of the adversities that women generally encounter. The liability aspect comes primarily with economic dependence and education is the fundamental step towards such independence”, she maintained.

Rahat Kaunain Hassan while underling the importance of females’ education said the dowry that parents give to their daughters could somehow be swapped with investment in their daughters’ education as this confers a superior rating, offers a better collateral and would create a level-playing field for their daughters which would yield higher rate of profits that you reap from a long term investment.

It is perceived that professionalism requires unfailing availability and total geographical mobility, which at time proves difficult. It may act as a barrier to career advancement, handicaps such a maternity leave and reduced mobility or career breaks are viewed as impediments and that is where creating an enabling environment matters, she said. We also have a self-image problem, a recent study revealed that 70 percent of females rate their own performance as equivalent to that of their co-worker while 70 percent of men rate themselves higher than their co-workers. Hence it shows that women are naturally less inclined to appreciate their own performance. It accordingly, affects capturing opportunity for promotion, she added.

The CCP Chairperson said it is perceived that professionalism requires unfailing availability and total geographical mobility, which at time proves difficult. It may act as a barrier to career advancement, handicaps such a maternity leave and reduced mobility or career breaks are viewed as impediments and that is where creating an enabling environment matters, she maintained.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:11/26/2010